PARK Chan-wook’s FINGERSMITH Adaptation Up for Best Foreign Language Film in the UK

PARK Chan-wook’s last film The Handmaiden, released in 2016, has become the first Korean film to ever receive a nomination at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs). The film was nominated in the Best Film Not in the English Language category of the upcoming 2018 BAFTA Awards.

Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in competition, The Handmaiden is a Korean adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel ‘Fingersmith’ set in Korea and Japan in the 1930s. It stars KIM Tae-ri as a woman who poses as a housekeeper to swindle an heiress (KIM Min-hee) in a plot hatched by a suave con man (HA Jung-woo).

The film was a hit at home, where it welcomed 4.29 million viewers (USD 33.08 million) during the early summer of 2016. In North America, where it was picked up for distribution by Amazon Studios, the film was well received on the awards circuit, winning 19 awards from film critics groups and various awards ceremonies.

The Handmaiden is nominated alongside Paul Verhoeven’s Elle from France, Angelina Jolie’s Cambodian production First They Killed My Father, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless from Russia and the Iranian film The Salesman by Asghar FARHADI. This year’s ceremony will take place on February 18 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Meanwhile, Director PARK is already in the UK as he prepares to begin production on his BBC series The Little Drummer Girl, a six-part adaptation of the John le Carré novel of the same name.

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